Sum 41‘s Deryck Whibley and his former manager have taken legal action against one another over sexual abuse claims.
In his memoir, Walking Disaster, Whibley accused Greig Nori, the ex-manager for the ‘Fat Lip’ hitmakers and frontman for fellow pop-punk group Treble Charger, of grooming him, as well as sexually and verbally abusing him for years.
Nori has denied all of the allegations made against him, telling The Globe And Mail that he had not seen the book or heard the allegations and added: “These are false allegations”. Nori also said that he had retained a defamation lawyer.
He also spoke to the Toronto Star and claimed that it was Whibley who initiated the relationship, as well as saying that accusations of “grooming” were false as they were both allegedly adults when the relationship began.
“The accusation that I initiated the relationship is false. I did not initiate it. Whibley initiated it, aggressively,” he claimed. “When the relationship began Whibley was an adult, as was I.”
He continued, telling the outlet: “The accusation that I pressured Whibley to continue the relationship is false. The accusation that I pressured Whibley to continue the relationship by accusing him of homophobia is false. Ultimately the relationship simply faded out. Consensually. Our business relationship continued.”
Whibley responded to Nori’s comments on his social media and said “I stand behind every word that is in my book”, and shared that he was willing to court over the issue.
Now, according to SooToday.com, documents filed in Ontario Superior Court earlier this month show that Nori has claimed libel and “breach of confidence, intrusion upon seclusion, wrongful disclosure of private facts, and placing the plaintiff in a false light.”
He is also seeking damages over the account Whibliey shared in his memoir. The former Sum 41 manager has also named Simon & Schuster LLC – the publisher of the memoir – as defendants in the case.
Whibley has countersued Nori and claimed $3million in damages for “defamation and placing the plaintiff in a false light,” after the latter publicly accused the vocalist of lying about the allegations in his memoir.
An instance of alleged abuse detailed in the book reportedly took place when Whibley was 18, and Nori allegedly grabbed his face and “passionately” kissed him while they were doing ecstasy in the bathroom of a rave. The Sum 41 singer alleged that he was surprised by the move as he hadn’t thought of Nori like that prior. He also claimed that from there, Nori persuaded him into exploring what they had, saying: “Most people are bisexual; they’re just too afraid to admit it.”
Whibley also claimed that, that when he tried to end things with Nori, the Treble Charger frontman accused him of being homophobic and listed out the ways that Sum 41 “owed” him for helping get their career off the ground.
Later in the book, Whibley alleged that the unwanted sexual encounters came to an end when a mutual friend between him and Nori said it was abuse. However, he claimed instances of psychological and verbal abuse soon worsened as Nori would allegedly fluctuate between praising Whibley and berating him.
Whibley also accused him of being insistent on getting songwriting credit on many Sum 41 songs. This, Nori allegedly said, was because it would give the band “more credibility”.
Sum 41 would later fire Nori in 2005, citing that he was not responding to requests, unreachable and missing opportunities. Whibley says he had not revealed the nature of their relationship to his bandmates at that point.
Whibley told the LA Times he did not warn Nori about the allegations in the memoir ahead of it being published.
In other news, Whibley recently opened up about the band’s “final run” of farewell shows, admitting that “it’s finally hitting me that it’s coming to an end”. Back in 2023, the band confirmed they would be breaking up following the release of one final album and a farewell world tour
For more help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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